April 7, 2008 8:34AM 

# Just the Facts, Ma’am 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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Here’s the chronology:

1. Someone tells Sen. Hillary Clinton (D‑NY) an anecdote.
2. Without checking to see whether it’s true, she repeats it on the campaign trail.
3. Turns out, [it might not be true](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/06/clinton.hospital/index.html).
4. She agrees to stop repeating the anecdote.

A fine example of the perils of [letting anecdotes guide public policy](http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/25/6/1149) \[$\].

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies) 

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